The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it may soon name Anggodo Widjojo, a businessman who allegedly masterminded the framing of two of its deputy chiefs recently, a suspect.
Deputy chief Bibit Samad Riyanto, said Monday while speaking about the KPK’s investigation into Anggodo, that the KPK was discussing the possibility of giving him suspect status.
“It is a possibility [that we name Anggodo a suspect]. We’re still discussing it, as it requires the KPK leaders’ decision,” Bibit said, who was reactivated last month after being suspended earlier in relation to the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office’s probe into him and fellow KPK deputy chief Chandra M. Hamzah.
Bibit and Chandra were named suspects in an alleged power abuse, bribery and extortion case related to their handling of a graft case involving fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, president director of telecommunication firm PT Masaro Radiokom.
Nationally broadcast wiretaps played at the Constitutional Court in November, however, revealed an alleged plot to frame the two KPK deputy chiefs by Anggodo, who is Anggoro’s brother, several police and AGO officials.
But, the presidential fact-finding team set up afterward found that the case against Bibit and Chandra was constructed and lacked evidence. It recommended that the suspect status of the two were lifted.
It also recommended that fines be imposed on those involved in the alleged framing.
The KPK has since begun investigations on Anggodo, and Bibit said further investigations would likely follow.
A number of NGOs, including the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), have urged the KPK to immediately name Anggodo a suspect, saying it is enough with the wiretaps and testimony of middleman Ari Muladi.
Ari told the team that he had lied to the police when saying he had dispatched bribes to a number of KPK leaders, including Bibit and Chandra.
The ICW, meanwhile, criticizes the KPK for its “slow handling of cases”, post the reactivation of the two KPK deputy chiefs.
“I’m afraid it is now easy to slow down the KPK after the alleged framing,” coordinator of ICW’s political corruption division, Ibrahim Fahmi Badoh, told tempointeraktif.com.
Fahmi said KPK leaders might be traumatized by the alleged framing, making it more thorough in handling corruption cases.
The slow handling, he said, were shown in the Anggodo and Bank Century bailout cases.
“The KPK should be at the front of the special inquiry committee,” Fahmi said, referring to the committee on the Bank Century bailout case inquiry set up by the House of Representatives last month.
Anggodo is suspected of abusing Article 21 of the corruption eradication law by obstructing investigations into the graft case involving his fugitive brother.
The article reads, “Everyone who intentionally prevents, blocks or foils either directly or indirectly investigations, prosecutions, and questioning in trials against suspects, convicts or witnesses in graft cases, face a minimum of three and a maximum of 12 years imprisonment, or a minimum of Rp 150 million (US$16,000) and a maximum of Rp 600 million in fines.”
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